Vivienne models various things for you today.
Big brothers:
Chubbiness:
Girls look great in blue.
Carrots.
This little missy loves posing for me. She’s also my third round of photographing a baby. It’s a whole lot easier to shoot babies than toddlers because I tell you, once they start crawling fast, it’s really hard to get in-focus shots. When they start walking, it’s next to impossible.
So, I was trying to think of an awesome present for the holidays for Peter and Todd. One that would inspire creativity 
and play, and last for a long time. The boys loved the big plastic play kitchen in our church nursery, so I decided to do some shopping for kitchens online. The really cool plastic ones with good reviews were around $100 so I figured I may as well do wood and have it last longer and not deal with peeling stickers and warping doors after time. I shopped all over figuring prices and reading reviews until I at last decided on KidsKraft Let’s Cook Kitchen in primary colors. Ebay 
had a fantastic cashback thing going on so we got it for $125 with free shipping, and I eagerly anticipated the day we would reveal it to the boys. Hubby put it together with a drill and it took him four hours, but boy, was it beautiful. And HUGE! I was in love, so proud of myself for picking the perfect kitchen! The boys fell upon it with glee and had a blast exploring it. the doors all open, there is a microwave, oven, freezer, fridge, and dishwasher that all open, a stove, a sink, and tons of storage space.
So that was when we first got it. As time went on it became apparent that the boys were not nearly as interested in cooking food in their kitchen as they were in climbing on it, hiding inside the dishwasher, banging the phone against various parts (chipping off the paint of the phone) and otherwise acting like…boys. Then they figured out they could remove the fridge door. The doors on the kitchen weren’t on screws but on little silver smooth pieces that slid in. So within two weeks all doors save the microwave on top had been removed by my monkeys. They just wanted to use it as a jungle gym.
So I decided to move it to the cul-de-sac opposite the bathroom, where the boys can’t access most of the time. The climbing cube that cost me $2 at a yard sale, plastic and simple, was moved out to the living room instead. Where they climb on it, knock it over, climb over it, launch themselves onto the couch, and generally have a testosterone-fest. The kitchen waits until Kyle can get some screws from the hardware store and re-attach the doors. Then it will stay out of the way until Vivienne gets old enough to use it.
Lessons learned: life is full of disappointments, no toy is toddler boy proof, spending lots of money on toys is usually pointless, and boys will be boys. I am still learning about what boys are like, being raised with all girls myself. We had a plastic McDonalds set I remember we had a blast with for years when I was growing up. I don’t know what would be more appropriate for Todd and Peter. A giant log? A rope swing in the middle of the living room? Power tools? Two sticks to whack each other with? Loincloths and a pet tiger?
Argggh. Anyway. I’m sure this would have been a perfect kitchen. For girls.
less than a day old:
being worn in a Moby wrap by Kyle, a month or two:
Five months old, in a cloth diaper and recycled wool cover made by me:
Learning to walk about a year ago:
with his beloved stuffed elephant, Peanut
Sigh. Peter turns two in February, but I still call him my baby. Time has raced by.
I suddenly realized it is 2009, and Kyle proposed in February of 2004. That makes five years since we were engaged come February 12, the date that picture below was taken. Wowzas. How time does fly! I can’t stop thinking about some of the massive changes in both of us since that time. If somebody had told me that in five years Kyle and I would be parents of three children, I probably would have laughed because our plan was to marry, wait two years, have a baby, and have another two later. So at 
that rate I would just have one child and maybe be pregnant with the second in 2009, but alas, plan B. But I think most of reality is plan B (or C, D, or even W). Kyle and I have become not different people since then, (he is still a type ‘A’ geek and I am still a type ‘B’ hippie woman) but there has been a great growth that only great changes can bring. And the result? After five years of loving Kyle, what we have now is quite different from the giddy cloud we both walked five years ago. I have heard it said that when you first love it is like a blazing flame, and as time goes on the blaze dies down and the coals, the embers, the heart of the fire, are built up. At times the flame may be challenged by wind or other foul conditions, but the embers keep the heat going through trials. At five years, I now know what they mean by embers. The Kyle I know and love now I treasure much dearly than I did five years ago. We have been through the ringer and faced challenges nobody could have explained to us, and we are so much stronger. There are times when I want to make him sleep on the lawn in the rain, but I would still die for him gladly and don’t want anybody else to share my life with me. We are still newbies at this marriage thing, and I wonder at couples who have been married for 60 years, even 25 years seems a dreadfully long time to be married. But all in all, be it the whirlwind that it has been, it’s been a great start. I know that this is all due to us founding our love upon the love of Jesus Christ, for He has been the great teacher in our love. I don’t depend on Kyle to fulfill all my needs, because that’s not his job. However, as a nearly-25 year old husband, he does a terrific job at loving his wife and family. He is precious to me and I wouldn’t trade that for anything, not all the peace and quiet in the world.
So cheers to five years of loving Kyle! May we love each other the rest of eternity! I would suffer through life on earth with nobody else! I have no idea what else we will go through, but I pray we grow through it.
ETA: A sign of being busy parents, I have no recent pics of just me and Kyle, so I will try to take one in the next month, and for now, here are two pics:
I need a blog! So here we go. Kyle and I had one, but it was hacked. So I’m going to test some stuff out here.
Adding a picture:
Todd, Vivienne, and Peter
Ohh, that was nice and easy.
So DH has been putting off making me a blog for months now. But I need a blog. So I read some comparisons and WordPress was highly recommended. I am now going to plug my blog to various people who I used to blog alongside of but abandoned when our blog got hacked three times and we gave up. But I need a blog to write because I don’t want my head to explode. So meet what keeps me busy, my kiddos. Todd is the oldest at three, Peter is about to turn two, and Vivienne is seven months old. They are cute, and hard work. Every day is different. Chances are I will have lots of, “Peter just said…..(insert cute phrase here)” so if mommy blogs bore you just move right along because this is the focus of my life right now. But kids, be they ever so wearisome, messy, and time-consuming, are awfully entertaining. Anyway, I like using this blog interface, pretty spankin easy, and I love the auto-save draft feature and watching my word count go up as I type. OK, not much else to say here, so back to your regularly scheduled program!
